The leaves are bursting through on our hedgerows, there’s the odd gleam of sun, the nights are lighter, lily white legs are being aired by some brave I-don't-care-how-stupid-I-look souls as they don last year’s shorts. And the motor cycling fraternity is out in force on our country lanes and roads.
Much of the time they scare me half to death when I'm behind the wheel as they swoop and dip round corners, suddenly looming up in your mirrors in the blink of an eye, hugging themselves to your offside flank inches from your bumper as they bide momentary seconds to get past you in a speed-drunken bid to keep up with their mates.
Think bike! exhort road signs on our swooping country roads in a brusquely peremptory manner that puts all the onus on motorists to take action to keep motor cyclists safe as they oft times recklessly take full advantage of the capabilities of their high speed machines.
And, dare I say it, it is the same attitude that prevails with some of their slower two-wheeled cousins as they pedal their way round our city streets with an attitude akin to I’m on my bike and it’s up to you, dear motorist, to make sure you don’t hit me as I wobble my way along while struggling to balance laden shopping bags on my handlebars, or am deaf to all that’s going on around me because of the music blaring in my ears.
Now I’m all for sharing the road. I’m all for people getting on their bike for whatever reason they choose, whether it be for health reasons, to get to work faster than they would in a car or simply because they like it – as I like to from time to time. I’m all for bikers taking to the roads in an act of liberating freedom that shakes off the shackles of the mundane every day or gives them back a few moments of their distant youth.
And I’m very much for motorists taking due care when in the vicinity of vulnerable road users such as cyclists or pedestrians, and very much for – where they can safely do so – slowing down and easing to the left to give motorcyclists clearance to pass.
It is called being considerate as well as safe.
And let me make it abundantly clear that I’m absolutely not for motorists and lorry drivers who, for instance, turn left without indicating across the path of a cyclist or rev up impatiently behind them, their front bumper aggressive inches from their rear mudguard.
I don’t like the get-out-of-my-way attitude of some drivers who signal their view of the two-wheeling fraternity by leaning arrogantly on their horn and then pass them by with the narrowest of margins and a two-finger flick of disdain.
But just as bad as that is the apparent presumption by some bikers and cyclists that it’s motorists who bear the sole responsibility for their individual safety.
It's as though some of them deny all responsibility for their actions while out on the road regardless of how stupid or dangerous they might be.
Hurtling out of a side road at speed on a bike without looking? Clearly that’s the motorist's fault if they get hit because they should have the mind-reading capability to know the cyclist was going to do that. Pulling a wheelie or weaving down a residential street no-handed and falling off into the path of a car? The driver should have known that was going to happen so not gone down the street in the first place.
Climbing on a bike with no lights and wearing dark clothing? Well that's obvious isn’t it? All motorists should have x-ray night vision.
Last week the All Parliamentary Cycling Group published its report, Get Britain Cycling, in which it came up with a number of recommendations including banning HGVs from city centres during key periods of the day to protect cyclists, redesigning our streets to ensure the needs of cyclists and pedestrians are adequately provided for and extending 20mph speed limits in urban areas with 40mph limits being considered on some rural lanes. If you're pro-cycling you’re clearly going to support such measures.
But it also mentions training and education, recommending that cycle training should be provided in all primary and secondary schools. Well, I’d go a step further. It should be compulsory for anyone taking to the roads on two wheels to have demonstrated their proficiency in riding in traffic conditions. And we need to be prepared to penalise those who ride unsafely and not just automatically presume that the car driver is always the one to blame.
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